Netheril Risen

The party seeks to elevate its status in Celduilon

The revere from the breaking of the siege was short-lived as the party was soon brought to a tribunal to answer questions concerning the party’s involvement with the shadow. They soon found that they had already acquired a powerful enemy in the city, the high adjudicator, Mora Moonwater. For their role in the defeat of the shadow’s assault on the city, the group was allowed to stay in Celduilon but they were confined to the lower halls.

This was short-lived as the party readily made allies within the city and found a way into the livelier middle halls. Before they made their move up the social ladder, the group discovered that their boar was invested with the spirit of Nortensen. Their fallen companion’s spirit had leant them a powerful companion to assist them in their journeys. Upon arrival in the middle halls, the heroes crashed a banquet in honor of the junior eladrin councillor, Lishekki Almandrine. We left them as they feasted in her honor seeking a way to ingratiate themselves with the nobility. If this doesn’t work then they will need to come up with another plan to move themselves up the social ladder. Their final goal is audience with the fey court of Celduilon itself.

The shadow has fallen upon the Feywild

Rukh and Ayn rejoined the party after 2 months of travel and enduring the dangers of the Anauroch desert another time. On arrival, the companions were reunited and Alec the bard left the party in search of friendlier pastures. They waited in Moonstair for another several days and finally the full moon arrived on a cloudless night.

The group arrived in the Feywild again through the moondoor only to find a slain scouting party from Celduilon. A message brought by the Eladrin stated that the city was under attack. The group traveled 3 days to Celduilon finding the city under siege by shadow and fey alike. The party assaulted the flank of the force and helped defeat the attackers.

Vampires. I hate Vampires. Unnatural beings who feast on the blood of the living. Not long after settling in for the evening my dreams were inundated with visions of these foul creatures. Their claws raking my flesh and their fangs tearing at my throat. It was a dream from which I could not wake. I was forced to endure these fetid visions, while unseen by me our camp was assaulted by a group of the beasts. Friend Ayn, having been on watch tried to rouse us as he stormed into the fray. But the magic of the Vampire muse made us slow to heed his call. One by one we roused ourselves, and when I finally awoke I was greeted with a fearsome sight.

Three of the beats had surrounded me and we’re being driven off by our noble Cleric, Rukh; who in turn was being assisted by the well placed bow shots of Leia. As I scrambled to my feet and drew my axe my eyes shot across our camp, not turned battlefield. Ayn was locked in mortal combat with that foul temptress of the undead. He bled from many wounds, but was stalwart in his resistance. He would not succumb to her honeyed words this day! Aelar fought shoulder to shoulder with Ayn, deftly wielding his newly acquired Moonblade.

As soon as the entire party was engaged the battle quickly turned in our favor, as the vampires fell beneath our blades. Total victory was not to be ours however; as the cowardly witch turned into as mist rather than face her final doom. She fled, leaving one of her kind behind. It pleaded with her not to leave, to save it. And it died with a look of surprise on it’s face.

With the immediate threat gone I proceeded to cut the heads from the fallen creatures. Ayn assisted and we went about our grisly, yet necessary work.

The rest of the night passes without incident and we rose in the morning and proceeded towards Baldur’s Gate. We rode to an area just south of the Bridge District. Not eager to repeat our experience the last time we entered the city, we set about trying to find a boat to ferry ourselves across the river and into the less frequently patrolled area of the Riverside Slums. Our efforts to secure a boat went unrewarded and in frustration friend Ayn frightened a small boy into renting us his fathers raft.

We made our way across the river and sent the boy back with two gold in his pocket. Perhaps the payment will go some way to relieving the nightmares he is sure to have about Ayn.

After some discussion we decided the best route to the undercity was through the well traveled sewer system of the city. So we plodded through the filth and the muck, navigating the twists and turns of the labyrinthine sewers with little difficulty. After some time our progress was halted by a crudely constructed wall. A stubborn and soon to be regretful guard demanded two hundred gold for our passage. Aelar and I glanced and each other, nodded and as one slipped into the foul muck of the sewer and swam under the gate, whilst the guard was bedazzled by Ayn’s silvery words.

Aelar and I rose from the foul soup a twenty paces or so behind the guard. I can only imagine what went through the guards mind as he turned and saw us, covered with that shit smelling foulness and coming directly at him. He managed to squeal for aid before Aelar charged into him. After a brief scuffle, he laid down his arms and agreed to let us pass. Free of charge. As we walked away from the gate and toward our destination, his cow eyed brothers in arms waddled into view. They tossed a insult or two in our direction, but let us pass without further incident. I did make sure to ask them if they would be there, when we came back. And if I find myself with idle time on my hands, I will make them regret their offhand remarks.

We proceeded on our way and came to the warehouse that Jack had described to us. Aelar picked the lock and we slipped inside. He is a curious one, that elf. Deft with a blade and the tools of a thief. Inside we found the glyph covered hatch leading downwards, we traced the rune that Jack had provided and the hatch opened. We did not care for what we saw. The shaft was pitch black, the lamps on either side of the entrance had been broken and extinguished. We lit the lamps and saw, at the bottom of the ladder a pool of freshly spilled blood. We drew our weapons and proceeded inside.

There were bodies. Torn limp from limb, with great chunks of flesh ripped off. They barely resembled people at all. We turned from the grisly sight and pressed onwards, pausing when Leia told us that she heard rattled breathing coming from the next room. We entered the room cautiously, but it was empty, save for some overturned crates in the far corner. Apparently the sound was coming from further down and adjoining hallway. The group turned its attention in this direction, except for Ayn. He said that he heard something coming from the area around the crates, and he slunk off to investigate. He returned momentarily and told us he had found a gnome cowering in one of the overturned boxes. He also reaffirmed the direction of our foe.

We turned the corner. It took a moment to take it all in a portal, and four different types of abberant creatures. One of the things held a staff. Two of the creatures were smaller than the rest, hunched over with unnaturally large milky white eyes. A few others approached something like normality in the fact that they wielded blades; though their appearance was far from normal. All of the things were hairless, and wore a rictus that framed a mouth full of needle like teeth. But our eyes were drawn to the largest member of their group. A hulking beast that appeared to be missing its skin. Its muscles rippled in plain sight and the whole thing was wet with blood.

Combat erupted at once. They laid into us with mental attacks from the staff wielder and the two spindly creatures. The blade wielders charged into combat and a melee broke out between them and the bulk of the party. I charged forward in an effort to silence the staff wielding horror, but as my blade descended he blinked out of existence only to appear in another corner of the room, a mocking smile on his face. The combat raged on, and we slowly gained the upper hand, pushing the beasts back, cutting them down one by one.

It was then that the unexpected happened. The portal on the ceiling of the chamber spasmed to life and tentacles appeared through it. They attack whoever was within reach which ended up being myself and Aelar, their touch stunning us with every hit. The battle continued when Aelar, knocked unconscious by our foes was dragged up into and through the portal by the tentacles.

We immediately redoubled our efforts, desperately trying to end the fight and pursue our fallen comrade. Finally all save the staff wielding beast we vanquished, and as we turned our attention to him, he teleported once again. Appearing beneath the portal and immediately rising up through it. Without a moments hesitation we were after him, each of us in turn leaping up to touch the portal which seemed to then draw us into it.

We emerged on the other side and saw what was attached to the other end of the tentacles. A Grell. The staff wielder was cowering behind it and Aelar, unconscious and dying lay beneath it.

Please join me for some wine and we can discuss this...

The adventurers dispatched the bluespawn that dwelt in the sea caves beneath the tower and moved deeper into the interior of the volcano. They climbed a set of stairs to a wooden door that Aelar pried open with his handy crowbar. He peered into the room to find two dragonborn staring back at him looking a bit peeved.

“You could have just knocked”, remarked the taller of the two dragonborn as he hefted a greataxe that had been leaning against the table. The second dragonborn shifted up from his stool and picked up his staff.

“Hail”, countered Aelar as the group filtered into the room.

“Yes, hail and well met”, added Ayn who appointed himself the spokesperson for this discussion.

He slowly approached the dragonborn and engaged them in a discussion concerning their relationship to Gaurlax, the blue dragon that they were seeking. He determined that they worked with Gaurlax but seemingly not for him. They were members of the Cult of the Dragon and they had come to conduct research on creating blue dragonspawn. At this point, the cost of the bluespawn that the group had just slain entered the conversation and the discussions took a turn for the worse. It seemed clear that the cultists might be willing to make a deal for safe passage to Gaurlax but it was difficult to get a sense that this deal would be honored. In lieu of any further negotiations, battle broke out.

The dragonspawn cultists were soon joined by three more members of their group and the fight was vicious and bloody. Electrical energy erupted from a set of columns flanking the bluespawn spawning pool searing several of the heroes during the fight. The leader, Surak, fought bravely but eventually conceded surrender after three of his kin were slain. The heroes accepted unconditionally and moved to place them in the cages that two of the dead bluespawn had occupied.

A brief synopsis of the heroes progression toward the Paragon Tier

The original group of adventurers met in the town of Highmoon. Their journey has taken them across Cormyr, the Anauroch Wastes, and all the way to Baldur’s Gate on the Sword Coast. During this time, the group has matured into a dangerous martial squad capable of dealing with a broad variety of enemies. They have joined a vestige of the once powerful organization called the Harpers in an attempt at opposition to the rising power of Netheril. Some of the heroes homelands are threatened by this development and others promote the will of their deity. Regardless, they are working together to undermine the rise of the shadow in Faerun.

The group met in the month of Highsun in 1479. They joined in an effort to investigate the Keep of the Shadowfell and eventually thwarted Shardraxil, the shadow wyrm, in his plot to escape the pocket plane that contains him. This was an impressive success for such a small, inexperienced band to accomplish. They went on to further undermine the efforts of cultists of Shar in the town of Winterhaven.

From there, they journeyed west into the Thunder Peaks to discover further adventure. They found themselves working for the Cormyrean border force at Thunder Gap Citadel. A white dragon named Xerthis was assisting a goblin army in a siege upon the mountain fortress. The heroes slew the dragon in her lair allowing the purple dragons the opportunity to thwart the goblins. A powerful war wizard named Lady Miramar teleported the group as a favor to the city of Arabel where some pressing family matters needed tending to.

Arrival in Arabel revealed a city in turmoil. War was brewing with Netheril to the north and the city was in the grips of the mobilization effort. The group was joined later by Lady Miramar who returned to ask the heroes for their assistance. It became clear that shadow agents were already at work in undermining the city prior to a direct assault. One of these plots seemed to involve the use of an ancient portal thought to be destroyed by the spellplague that when operational could allow an army to march from Netheril to the dungeons beneath Arabel. The heroes accepted this quest and journeyed to the depths of a temple of Zehir that was occupied by snake cultists. It was here that the heroes did battle and defeated the shadow agent, Noordrago, who was coordinating Netherese efforts to secure the portal. They discovered the portal shortly after and found it to be contaminated by spellplague. This was removed by a wizard in the group who became plaguetouched as a result of the encounter. This opened the portal and allowed the heroes to travel through. Before the group left Arabel, they learned that Lady Miramar was captured by Cormyrean soldiers working for the empire’s new leader, a newly placed king who capitulated to the Netherese.

The heroes then found themselves with nothing to do but head in search of new allies in their fight against the shadow. Lady Miramar suggested that the heroes inquire about Harpers in a small town east of the Eladrin kingdom of Evereska. The group traveled west across the wastes where the portal had deposited them and soon found an ally in a gnome named Festivus. He made the heroes initiates in the Harpers and sent them for work and training in Baldur’s Gate. War was coming the Netherese empire and the heroes would need a network of allies if they were going to strike a blow in opposition to the growing threat.

On arrival to Baldur’s Gate, the heroes found their way to Harper’s Hold and met Harek, their new leader. The Harpers had been forced into complete secrecy after several high profile members were assassinated in the city several months prior. Few people were interested in helping the cause of opposing the Netherese. The growing sentiment seemed to be that peaceful coexistence was the future. Harek seemed to believe that this was folly and enlisted the group to investigate the murder of a merchant at the hands of a vampire within the city. The investigation led to the Werewoods and a coven of vampires dwelling the depths of an ancient temple to Shar. Once the coven was destroyed, a fragment of a powerful evil artifact was discovered by the party. Clearly, they had already stumbled into evidence of either Shar’s or the Netherese’s involvement in a local plot.

Unfortunately, the Flaming Fist confiscated the piece unexpectedly at the city gates leaving the group without an important way of preventing whatever sadistic ritual it would be used to perform. They set out to find the third missing fragment which they learned from a sage in Candlekeep was in a blue dragon’s horde. The dragon named Gaurlax laired on a remote island of the coast of Athkatla and Velen. The heroes are in the midst of exploring this volcanic island now after securing passage to the island aboard the “Coral Sea”. If they are able to retrieve the fragment, their next step will likely be to find out a way to secure it since there is reason to believe that someone in Baldur’s Gate has the other two and is looking for it.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.